Thursday, July 03, 2008

The Dark Knight's First Five Minutes?

Heath Ledger's body language is so... unsettling in its wrongness. It's as if he's got scoliosis of the soul. Ick (in a good way)



This is apparently not new but intermittently new as in. Shows up. Gets pulled. Shows up again. People freak like it's new each time. I haven't seen the movie yet so it's still new to me...

[tangent] although I totally have this theory that if you get all teaser and trailer and released clips from any excessively hyped movie you can actually edit together a short film approximation of the whole experience. Especially if the main trailer is of the 'give the entire movie away' school of marketing.

To whit, have you seen the Death Race trailer? I watched it out of curiousity as to why the great Joan Allen was slumming. But the trailer actually gives you everything: characters, plot set up, action setpieces, central plot twist reveal and even the hero (Jason Statham) figuring it all out and seeking his real triumph in addition to the expected triumph. It gives you everything. I would say "who the hell would pay to see it after they saw it?" but I've learned by now that the public likes to know the plot twists ahead of time. sigh. [/tangent]

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

There is a full new trailer for BLINDNESS here:

http://www.alliancefilms.com/en/34/trailers/play_trailer/11952/default_high/B/0/

Julianne Moore's performance seems to be so subtle...

Janice said...

Thanks, anon 8:19. It's good to see Juli back with not one but two meaty performances (neither of which will get any awards traction, I'm guessing.)

Anonymous said...

I usually don't get what people are complaining about when they talk about trailers giving away the whole movie, but the Death Race trailer blew me away. It was when you see Joan Allen say "we'll kill him" where you realize, well, there goes the third-act plot twist.

Walter L. Hollmann said...

well, the Casablanca trailer reveals almost the entire ending, so it's sort of a tradition.

saw the Death Race trailer for the first time, two days after seeing Death Race 2000 for the first time. I am psyched. Joan Allen is a fox.

Anonymous said...

They seriously need to bring Billy Dee Williams back as Harvey Dent instead of prettyboy Aaron Eckhart.

Of course, much of Death Race is given away by the fact that it was previously a great, campy 70s movie starring David Carradine and Sly Stallone. And the fact that it's directed by Paul W.S. "The American Uwe Boll" Anderson should drop further hints on your dome.

Rob said...

I know it's often overlooked because it's a movie nobody cares about and barely remembers, but I caught "One Night at McCool's" again on cable last night, and I vaguely remembered the trailer gave away the FINAL SHOT OF THE MOVIE, which is also arguably the movie's funniest joke.

I also remember the trailer for "Empire," with John Leguizamo and Peter Sarsgaard, which made it look like the movie was all about the twist in the last ten minutes.

Can anyone recall similar movie-ruining trailers that went beyond just giving away most of the plot?

adam k. said...

You know which OTHER trailer gives the whole film away??? That new f*cking Helen Hunt movie, Then She Found Me or whatever it is. I saw it before Edge of Love in London, I believe. Whole plot given away, including abundant twists and all the good one-liners. Glad I won't even have to think about wasting any money on that one now.

adam k. said...

And on the subject of movie-ruining trailers, The Others still stands tall in my mind, not for giving stuff away, but just for making the film look like shite. Based on that trailer, I would NEVER have seen it if it hadn't ended up getting such great reviews and word of mouth, not to mention Kidman's breakthrough year, etc.

Never seen such a horrid trailer for such a good movie.

adam k. said...

And I'd say the Cast Away trailer also went above and beyond the call of duty in giving away plot. It totally showed the last few minutes, after Tom Hanks got off the island. Totally unnecessary, and ruined what would've been an interesting development. I mean it's not like they didn't have enough of a hook to sell it.

TOM HANKS. ON AN ISLAND. ALONE.

You DON'T need to know what happens at the end.

adam k. said...

So Rob, consider your question answered.

I'm done now.

Michael B. said...

I'm going to the premiere of The Dark Knight next Friday on Imax! Totally excited for that...and on trailers giving away too much. If you've seen Hancock, there are so many twists and turns that the trailer is all from the first 30 minutes. And I actually liked that.

Rob said...

I'd be inclined to agree about "Hancock" if I didn't think the studio was just trying to downplay/hide the hideous third act.

Anonymous said...

re Harvey Dent: Eckhart sucks. Mostly a vacuous bland-looking douche who mistakes blatheringrealfast! for charisma and talent, imo. Dark Knight trailer isn't turning me around on him. His only performance I think is worth anything would be in Sean Penn's The Pledge and it's a bit part (go figure).

But Joan Allen, Joan of the Ice Storm......slumming? Oh no, looks like it. In her case, coming off bad onscreen has got to be intentional. Bourne Supremacy was flimsy but she wasn't, after all (just not brilliant - perhaps a little reserved).

Janice said...

Back to the subject of trailers - the trailer for the Interpreter showing the bus blowing up. I took a friend to the film who had not seen the trailer and that sequence came as a total surprise to her, as it should have to me as well had I not seen the trailer first. I rather envied her "innocence".

The Japanese trailer for Moulin Rouge completely focuses on Satine's death. Of course the film does the same in the first minute, but by that point theoretically your butt is already in the seat and you've paid your ticket, so you might as well stay.

I've noticed that comedy trailers are the most misleading for me because they pack all the "jokes" into the trailer, and (occasionally) I think "that looks good" - and then it isn't. If the people in the trailer don't look like they are having any fun (what was that one with Sandra Bullock and Hugh Grant?) then that's a strong signal to me to skip it.